GOP Weighs Electing First Black Chairman

As the nation is on the verge of inaugurating its first black president, the Republican Party is facing a telling choice: whether to elect its first black chairman.

The contest for Republican Party chairman comes as Republican leaders seek to figure out what the party stands for, as well as what face to put forward as it struggles to avoid shrinking into a party of Southern white men as the country grows increasingly diverse. Among the six candidates are four white men, including two from the South, and two blacks: Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, and J. Kenneth Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[jdmba]

Honestly, I support the right of people of all colors to be Republicans. We (Black people) are not homogenous. We have different experiences, and some may want to vent their own feelings of racial inadequacy by voting Rethug. Do I agree with their sentiments? No. Are they allowed to express them? Yes. Some people, of all races, are opportunistic, and there is a lot of career opportunities for someone who wants to shine in that party.

I just get insulted by the sheer obviousness of it all. Rethugs insult our intelligence, thinking we'll just follow the Black guy wherever he goes. But we've seen turncoats before, and we know when we're being used. It wasn't just that Obama is Black. It was because Obama is... Obama. That's why he was elected, and thats what they will never choose to accept.

[November2008]

This 59 year old African American woman agrees with your post 100%...thanks, I get insulted too..and aggravated as all get-out...

[khiva]

This is the textbook definition of tokenism.

[blurredtruth]

The GOP needs real conservatives not people like McCain or Bush.

[JayDDrew]

Whenever I think about the Republicans and "diversity", I recall how Bush blew off the NAACP, declining to speak at their convention in 2004. So much for the Republican outreach. Bush cut to the chase and said flat out they weren't voting for him, so why even talk to them?
There is no Republican outreach. Tokens are all they can show, because their policies work against affirmative action and social projects which help minorities and the poor climb economic and social ladders.

[Beetlegator]

The BIG PICTURE is how will the GOP recruit African-Americans?

Do they get volunteers knocking on doors of African-American home asking them to join the party?

This will be interesting.

[DFutureIsNow]

If thats what the RNC calls CHANGE I want my money back!!

[totaldisbelief]

I'm sure this move will get the GOP lots of new members....not

[blaharumph]

magic!

[Jaking]

PLZ !!! there is no such thing as a BLACK Republican!!! lol lol

[JayDDrew]

Hard to disagree. Michael Steele is one of the whitest people I've ever seen. I can still here him saying "drill,bsby, drill" on the Bill Maher Show. I hope every time he comes on TV, that clip is shown to show his pandering.

[MrFiskar]

It doesn't make any if he is orange or green or what color he is still a repub and wasteful spender.

[Bendersky]

Not transparent as all.

[humbug]

Blackwell's black? That's a pigment of the GOP's imagination.

Bah!

[haval2]

Mike's not black.

[KYJurisDoctor]

If you ask me, the Republican Party needs to QUIT this charade, and keep Mike Duncan.

He is NOT the reason Republicans have become the party of the Southern White Men, and Mike Duncan is NOT the reason the party has become more racist, and Mike Duncan is NOT the reason the party is NOW a socialist organization, and replacing Mike Duncan as the head of the party will NOT -- I repeat -- will NOT -- bring Blacks trooping back into the party.

The party needs to CHANGE itself from within, beyond putting the face of a Black man on Teevee as Chair. .

Maybe, when the party starts to understand that Black people are NOT FOOLS, and will NOT fall for SYMBOLISM over NEEDED SUBSTANCE, the party can start to experience a NEEDED Epiphany.

Jeeze.

[JahLenin]

Isn't the Ca-lan their base? How's Daniel Carver and the other gran_d Wi-zards and Drag-unz meant to get their hordes behind this?

[doctorkeys]

Just what I was thinking. Wouldn't this drive away most of what remains of their party?